Ghost Knife Fish

[tetras4me]

see i was reading bout ghost knife fish and it say that they are genrelly peaceful, but it will eat my neon tetras wont it?

 

[cane76]

yep it sure will

 

[krishanu]

ghost knife tail fish are among the most unusual fish i have seen, and even i thought of getting one! but they are very aggressive fish and shouldnt be kept with any fish smaller than itself. they grow quite large (i have seen one a good 7-8 inches long) so i would NOT advise you to put a ghost knife tail in your aquarium...

 

[ringham]

A small BGK would be okay for a while but when it hits a certain size...

WHAM

It will be like your neons never even exhisted

 

[SamUK]

ghost knife tail fish are among the most unusual fish i have seen, and even i thought of getting one! but they are very aggressive fish and shouldnt be kept with any fish smaller than itself. they grow quite large (i have seen one a good 7-8 inches long) so i would NOT advise you to put a ghost knife tail in your aquarium...

there not aggressive but they will eat fish that fit in there mouths. jus like most big fish.



they grow to 20" too altho im not sure how long that takes.

 

[rob newland]

Yep it will, my sister keeps a BGK with some small euro rams and tetras and has never had a problem - mind you it is still small (only about 3") but when it grows they will need to be moved. I made a mistake with my 7" african knife (could be bigger - never measured it) by introducing 6 glowlight tetras in to my tank with it. They lived happily in there for about 3 months, but then one day when I looked in there was only 2 - they may have died but I am pretty sure they were eaten as they had always looked healthy - mind you I did a test yesterday and introduced the remaining 2 back into the tank for the day, and after having one shot at eating one and failing, the knife gave up and the only fish that seemed interested were the mono, cichlids and strangely enough my tiger barbs. None of the fish managed to get close to eating them though and I netted them out before they could have been. No tetras were harmed .
I would not reccomend tetras with a knife fish for any significant period of time though and if you are serious about the knife fish - find a home for the tetras.

 

[pascados]

would a ghost knife be ok with zebra dainos and yoyo loaches in a 50L tank?

 

[cane76]

tanks to small for bgk

 

[pica_nuttalli]

yeah, way WAY too small for a BGK. a BGK pretty much has to be kept in a minimum 75g tank (that's about 275 liters)

 

[sven_sol]

I've a BGK, and when we first got him I didn't know anything about them. (This is a lesson about reading as much as possible first about a fish!)

We originally put him into a 70ltr tank and started to do some reading up. He was about 2.5" long at the time and looked really cool swiming around, hiding in small crannies. Tank mates at the time were a clown pleco, 4 neons, couple of red eye tetras and a silver tip tetra. No problems at all... until 3 month had passed and he was about 4" long.. time to get a new tank! 240ltr Juwel Rio

That was about 5 months ago now and he's about 7" long and the only thing(s) he has attacked (that we know) have been two chinese algae eaters - You won't believe this.. but he only attacked them after they started getting a taste for the other fish. Other than that, quite timmid, but there is no messing around a feeding time - the rest know to give him a wide birth!

From what I've read he'll be fine around neons - but only if they've grown up together. if you start adding them later on (like about now for me) he'll think its live food, then start on the others. So bigger fish from now on.

In about a years time we'll have to upgrade to a bigger tank, thinking about 320ltr with suitable rocks/pipes and other dark bits.

But yes.. big tank is a must.. saw one last week in my LFS near Royston, Herts, looks like it had got too big for the owner and he was twice the length of ours. about the length and thickness of my forearm.

 

[~T~]

Some will eat small fish.Mine grew up with them so does not touch them and hes now about 12".

 

[Gankutsuou]

the "grow up with them" thing doesn't really work....

The moment that the BGK actually figures out "Hey, these fit in my mouth." They're history. It's just a matter of him being hungry, your tetra being in place, and so one, which makes heavy plants and wide swimming spaces probably better for the tetra to have a chance. Most people say minimum of 75, i'd say a minimum of 80. I'd have one meself if it was 40. Otherwise i'd have one

Edit:

Some people do claim "growing up together" works.
All I have to say is:

they're your money. Your fish. And your risk.

 

[~T~]

the "grow up with them" thing doesn't really work....

The moment that the BGK actually figures out "Hey, these fit in my mouth." They're history. It's just a matter of him being hungry, your tetra being in place, and so one, which makes heavy plants and wide swimming spaces probably better for the tetra to have a chance. Most people say minimum of 75, i'd say a minimum of 80. I'd have one meself if it was 40. Otherwise i'd have one

Edit:

Some people do claim "growing up together" works.
All I have to say is:

they're your money. Your fish. And your risk.

Knifey lived with tetras and young kribs kribs until he was about 6" and never once a fish was eaten, now he lives with larger fish but there were still ones he could have eaten whole like my striped barbs or young cichlids under 3" but he never has yet he will wolf down huge chunks of squid/mussel/prawn/beefheart.Im not saying this will happen with every knife it just has with mine.My mate bought a baby one (less than 3") and it picked the eyes out of most of his fish.

I have mine in an 80 but even that seems too small, im about to give him to my mate who has a 120.

 

[Gankutsuou]

hmmmm. Yeah.

See - the way it was just sounding and going was, "You'll have no problems if they grow up together"

Even though you don't mean it, it turns out that way. So I just thought it best to point out that every BGK won't go that way 8)

 

[~T~]

hmmmm. Yeah.

See - the way it was just sounding and going was, "You'll have no problems if they grow up together"

Even though you don't mean it, it turns out that way. So I just thought it best to point out that every BGK won't go that way 8)

Thats why I said "some" and not "every"